At the Factory, we play music to help set an inspiring tone for our work environment, and sometimes to just get us through the day. At any given time, you will hear a range of genres including folk, classical, rock, country, and independent artists. We don’t usually pick favorites, but The Civil Wars’ sounds are often heard floating through the shelves of organic fabric in the studio. Joy Williams and John Paul White’s soothing and harmonic melodies have provided the soundtrack to many FULL workdays. The songs are sometimes bluesy, sometimes haunting, and always powerful. Their voices simply sound natural...
Full Circle. Cyerra Latham grew up in Florence, Alabama, and moved to Atlanta to study fashion at SCAD. There, she connected with Closely Crafted—whose board proudly includes Natalie Chanin—an organization that strives to revitalize craft in the U.S. through industry commitment and workforce development. With the help of a grant from Closely Crafted, she landed an internship in an unlikely place: her hometown. “I wanted to go to New York. I wanted to jump into a city scene. But after the first week of my internship with Project Threadways, I told my parents I could see myself staying...
When I returned home to Florence in 2000 to begin the work that became Alabama Chanin, The School of Making, and Project Threadways, I could not have imagined the path these last 25 years would take. What I did know, even then, was that the strength of this work would come from the people who chose to walk alongside it. Today, we’re realizing all that has emerged from those first hand-stitched garments and community action. We are still creating. Still resisting. Still evolving. Still rooted in Florence and the Shoals community. Still connected to a wider world of makers, thinkers,...
The following excerpt was published in the Southern Cultures “Future of Textiles” issue, guest edited by Natalie Chanin. stories@projectthreadways.org What Is It Worth? by Libby O’Bryan After a career as a textile buyer and production manager in New York City’s Garment District and after seeing so many factories shut down and skilled workers lose their jobs to overseas competition, I am on a mission to preserve the skill of sewing in our domestic manufacturing economy. For me, that means providing good jobs and a new model for production, as well as supporting the independent designer’s scaling production needs. Since 2010,...
The following excerpt was published in the Southern Cultures “Future of Textiles” issue, guest edited by Natalie Chanin. Fashion Eater The Sea’s New Food by Makalé Cullen The future of fashion is inside of us. We will—we are—wearing nanofibers internally, purchased not from a rack, but at the grocer’s, the fishmonger’s, the restaurant. Our identities, which we have adorned with plant and animal fibers for more than three hundred thousand years, will no longer only drape over us, they will become us—worn inside. Meet Fashion Eater. Fashion is a watery business. Textile manufacturing has always used copious amounts of water...
Collecting and Connecting for a Sustainable Future The following interviews were published in the Southern Cultures “Future of Textiles” issue, guest edited by Natalie Chanin. Fibershed is a non-profit that fosters regional networks, with a stated focus to build local textile economies, grow climate-beneficial agriculture, and support education and advocacy. Project Threadways started the Southeast Fibershed affiliate to connect growers, producers, and makers across the US South, with the goal of building stronger and more equitable futures. By creating a database of people and entities working in the regional fiber industry—from farmers and mills to gins and dye houses—they aim...
In Winter 2024, Natalie and the Project Threadways team collaborated on a guest-edited issue of Southern Cultures, a quarterly journal published by the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC-Chapel Hill, focused on the theme “The Future of Textiles.” Purchase the full issue here. IntroductionHistory, Community, and Powerby Natalie Chanin and Olivia Terenzio What is the future of textiles? Read news headlines, from business to environment to fashion, and you would be justified in pointing to the movement of nearly all textile production overseas, where supply chains are opaque and workers are often exploited; the prevalence of...
At Project Threadways, we believe making is more than a practice—it is a way to restore dignity, reclaim voice, and imagine new futures. One stitch, one story, one system at a time.1. We believe in the power of making.Making connects. Making restores. Making transforms. Whether through garments, farming, stories, or systems, this work holds the power to reshape the world.2. We don’t just make clothes—we build ecosystems.Alabama Chanin is a 25-year experiment in circular design: artisan-led clothing and textiles, transparent supply chains, and ethical labor systems rooted in the American South.3. Where tradition meets transformation.Together with The School of Making,...
Twenty-five years ago, I moved back to my hometown of Florence to create a short documentary film, STITCH, and 200 one-of-a-kind T-shirts, handcrafted by artisans in The Shoals. When I began this work, the concept of a for-profit business with a social mission was either nonexistent or beyond my awareness. From the very beginning, however, Alabama Chanin incorporated a clear social and ecological mission into its business model. We worked with recycled T-shirts, bought organic, American-grown cotton, paid skilled artisans to sew by hand, created jobs, and facilitated community gatherings. We held maker workshops, nurtured supply chains, and dreamed of a safer,...
This week, Project Threadways launched its Design, Hand-Sewing, and Embroidery workshop in partnership with the Continuing Education Department at the University of North Alabama (UNA). Over six classes, an inspiring group of students—including entrepreneurs, teachers, professors, and craft enthusiasts—are exploring hand-sewing, appliqué, stenciling, garment construction, and artisan practices. We’re deeply grateful to UNA’s Fashion Merchandising and Design faculty and the Joel R. Anderson Foundation for funding five scholarships, along with two from Project Threadways. Thanks to this support, seven of the twelve students in the course are attending on scholarships. These may sound like small numbers, but to us, they are monumental. Those seven...
